The Bonds of Family
by HAFanForever
Summary: On a family picnic, Merida affectionately plays with her brothers while her parents fondly watch. Eventually, they join their children in the fun, and Merida realizes how lucky she is to have a family who loves her and how much she loves all of them.


It was a very sunny and beautiful day in the kingdom of the clan of DunBroch. Merida and her family were spending the day together by having a picnic near the woods, in the very same place she had a picnic with her parents on her sixth birthday ten years before. At the moment, the family had just finished setting everything up and would be eating lunch shortly. To pass the time, Merida was playing hide-and-seek with her brothers, and she fondly remembered doing the exact same thing with her mother when they had their last picnic here.

"Where are you, boys?" Merida called out in a singsong voice as she walked around the picnic table. "Come out, come out. Come on out!" She chuckled as she realized that her words were the exact same words her mother said to her when she was hiding and her mother was looking for her. "I'm going to get you, boys!" she said as she slyly walked away from the table, hoping that she could trick them into coming out if one of them was hiding under the table.

Merida walked over to the tent nearby to see if any of her brothers were there, but found nothing when she took a quick look in the entrance. She knew that trying to find and catch all three of her brothers was going to be a challenge, since there were three of them and they worked together as a team very well to outsmart people, especially Maudie the maid.

Merida even remembered how she felt the first time she became a big sister and what the first few years of being a sister was like to her. The triplets were born when Merida was over ten years old, and she was excited about having three younger siblings all at the same time. However, there were times when she got annoyed due to how much crying all three of them would do simultaneously, and sometimes even jealous when her parents directed so much more of their attention to the triplets rather than her. Luckily, she was able to speak with her parents about the situation, and they assured her that what she felt was perfectly normal, especially for new siblings. They also assured her that just because they loved her brothers, didn't mean they loved Merida any less.

As the triplets developed into little children, Merida was finding how much she enjoyed being a big sister to them. When she wasn't doing lessons with her mother or practicing fighting with her father, some of the things she liked to do with her brothers was reading or telling them stories, playing games with them, and she also liked to have a hand in helping them sneak sweets from Maudie's eye in the kitchen. Merida did not mind if they wanted to tag along with her around the castle or do many of the things she was doing. The only things she didn't like them doing was if they took some of her things without asking her first or if they tried to copy every single thing she did. In all, however, even though they had their times of teasing each other, all four of the siblings loved each other very much. Hamish, Hubert, and Harris looked up to Merida, and Merida loved to act as a role model for her brothers.

Merida put her thoughts of loving her brothers forward since she knew she was playing with them now for that reason. She smiled slyly as she thought of a way to try and lure the boys out from their hiding spots. "Hmmm…," she said out loud as she put her finger to her chin. Then she held out her hands as she feigned puzzlement and asked, "Where did my three little brothers go? Did they disappear? Did they turn invisible?" Merida thought she heard a small giggle behind her as she finished, "They're going to get it when I finally find them!"

She quickly turned out and saw all three of her brothers out in the open! But Merida knew that they would split up in different directions as she tried to catch them and that she couldn't catch all three of them at once. So she looked at one of the boys and immediately went after him as the other two took off without Merida bothering to see where they went. But the one triplet didn't get very far from her when she managed to grab him, and she collapsed to her knees as she did. She turned her brother around and recognized him as Hubert. "Well, Hubert," she started, "I see that you, Harris, and Hamish think you can still outsmart me."

Hubert only smiled and nodded eagerly. "Then I guess I'll need some help rounding up all of you," Merida said.

She looked over to the picnic table and saw their deerhounds Seamus and Donnan lying down. "Seamus, Donnan," Merida called to them, then whistled to get their attention. Seamus and Donnan immediately stood up and ran over to her. "Lads, help me find Harris and Hamish."

The dogs seemed to understand exactly what Merida asked them to do and who she was talking about because they immediately went to different spots. Seamus and Donnan each went to two separate bushes and barked enthusiastically. Merida looked over at them and saw them pull out the other two triplets from the bushes in which they were hiding.

Carrying Hubert in her arms (who tried to squirm out of her grasp), she walked over to the boys and dogs. "Good work, lads," she praised the dogs as she scratched their heads. Then she glanced down at Hamish and Harris, while also glancing at Hubert. "Thought you three could outsmart me, did you?"

All of the triplets nodded and smiled mischievously at their sister. Merida slyly nodded her head at the same time. "Well, in that case…I'm going to gobble you three up at once!" she exclaimed as she grabbed Hamish and Harris in her arms to join Hubert. As they started laughing loudly and squealing as Merida held them tightly and tickled them, she growled playfully and made munching sounds as she played eating them. But then the triplets managed to quickly break out of Merida's grasp and turned the tables by tickling her in return and climbing all over her as they did so. Soon all four of them were laughing hysterically as they got tangled up in having so much fun together. Both dogs joined them as well, barking loudly and taking turns looking for a face to lick affectionately.

* * *

From a distance, all of the activity between the siblings and dogs was witnessed by their parents. Elinor held a hand over her mouth as she laughed softly in seeing all four of her children having a great time as they played. Fergus looked in the same direction as his wife while placing of his hands on his wife's shoulder. Feeling his touch, Elinor instinctively placed her hand on his hand.

"Does this scene look familiar to you, dear?" Fergus asked Elinor.

"Mm hmm," Elinor answered softly. "I remember that day when I played with Merida just like how she is playing with the boys now. I'm sure she remembers it just as well as I do. It seems that she only grew into a feisty and determined young lass. That's probably a trait of hers that will stay with her for the rest of life, but now I see that it's not a bad thing about her."

"Aye, dear," Fergus agreed. "And she's always been a good sister to the boys. They remind me so much of Merida when she was that age."

"Do you mean how stubborn and defiant she was at that age, especially when it came to what she would or wouldn't eat?" Elinor eyed him with a small frown, but she couldn't help smiling at the same time. "They definitely take after her when it comes to eating sweets."

Fergus laughed lightly and pulled Elinor into a hug. When they took a chance to look into each other's eyes, Fergus leaned down and met her lips in a kiss, one that Elinor was happy to reciprocate.

* * *

After the boys decided to stop tickling Merida, Merida gave them a ride on her back like a horse. As she walked several steps on her hands and knees, she was slightly surprised that the weight of all three of her brothers on her back did not falter her. Even so, the closeness of their sister soon became too much for the boys to resist, and they began to tickle once again. She started laughing as she fell to the ground and the boys tackled her all over. She was surprised when the boys just suddenly stopped tickling her and surrounded her. Then she was even more surprised and was briefly speechless when the boys just ran into her lap and wrapped their arms around her as best as they could to hug her. Merida smiled warmly and enclosed the boys in her arms to hug them back.

She became even more surprised when she felt someone grab her from behind and gasped loudly as it happened. "I'm going to gobble _you_ up, lass!" said a voice that Merida recognized instantly. She laughed uncontrollably as she felt Elinor tickle her and kiss her face in the same way she did after she changed back from being a bear.

When Elinor decided she was done, she lovingly wrapped her arms around Merida and pulled her in for a somewhat awkward hug. Not wanting to be left out, the triplets joined the embrace as best as they could, and Elinor affectionately ruffled the hairs of all of her children.

Then the embrace became even bigger when Merida felt her father's arms surround them, too. He laughed loudly as he hugged them all, then tenderly kissed Elinor's lips. Merida and the boys briefly looked away with disgust as they saw their parents kiss. But once they were done, they turned their attention back to their children and hugged them all as best as they could.

Still in her mother's embrace, Merida closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned into Elinor's chest. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at both of her parents, her brothers, and the dogs, who by now had joined them and tried to nuzzle their owners as best as they could.

"You know, I realize now, more than ever, just how lucky I am to be a part of this family. I wouldn't trade any of you for anyone else, and I love all of you just the way you are." She looked down at Seamus and Donnan and affectionately said, "Yes, even you two mutts."

Seamus and Donnan barked happily and took the chance to get closer into the embrace to lick Merida's face. Merida laughed as she tried to shoo them away. When they finally did, she continued, "I just hope that when I am finally queen of DunBroch, that I can create a family that I will love as much as the one I love now."

"You will, Merida," Elinor said in an assuring tone. "When the time comes, you will find a man to love and who will love you in return. And I'm quite sure that you will become a wonderful mother one day as well."

Merida could only smile and said, "I think I can only learn from the best role model for that."

Elinor smiled back. "You know something, Merida? In life, things do not always go the way we plan or want them to. When it happens, you should just try and make the best out of the situation in order to be happy. When I was young, I honestly did not know how things would go for me when I faced betrothal." She looked up at Fergus lovingly before she continued, "But things worked out for your father and I, Merida, so I'm sure that when the time comes for you, marriage and parenthood will work out for you."

"I believe you, Mum. Right now, though, I'm just content with the family I already have." She smiled again as she closed her eyes and leaned back into her mother, who tenderly kissed the top of her daughter's head.

The entire royal family of DunBroch sat together in silence and content for a few minutes, happy to be together. Although they were all enjoying it, Elinor decided to speak up and asked, "So is anyone hungry now?"

The triplets jumped out of the embrace and eagerly jumped up and down, which the rest of the family took to mean "yes." Fergus eagerly stood up and said, "Then let's eat!" He picked up the boys and walked over to the picnic table, and Donnan followed them.

Merida and Elinor stood up from their spot together, and Seamus nuzzled into Merida's side. As she reached down and patted the dog's head, her other hand joined Elinor's, and they smiled at each other as they walked over to the table to join the others for lunch.

* * *

**As third time's the charm, credit of the deerhounds' names go to Scotch-Irish Rose. :) And if you like the story, reviews are greatly appreciated.****  
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